Page 34 of Sweet Revenge

“Come on.” Elisa and I got up and moved to Cassandra’s booth, squeezing her against Alex with me on his other side. His brows creased slightly, but he was too out of it to say anything.

“What now?” Cassandra asked.

“You gave him too much.” I tried not to scold her. It probably wasn’t on purpose. “We need to get him out of here.”

“Go down the back staircase,” she said. “Tell everyone you meet he’s just fucking drunk.”

Elisa and I nodded at one another, then worked together to pull Alex out of the booth and to his feet. Drool dripped off his chin as Alex sputtered, “Fucking frou-frou drinks. Stupid bitches.” He wasn’t making much sense, but at least he was talking.

“Is he going to be all right?” Elisa asked me as we walked her brother across the parking lot.

“Sure, I think so,” I replied. “As long as he doesn’t die.”

“Fuck.”

We managed to get her brother into the back of the van and then took off out of the parking lot like Satan himself was chasing us.

Maybe he was.

CHAPTER21

ELISA

“Lift with your legs, baby.” Daemon’s voice was more of a growl than actual speech. He was clearly straining under the majority of the weight from my brother’s limp body. When we had moved Alex from the club to the van, he’d been awake enough for us to steer him, moving along with us even though he wasn’t actually aware of where we were going. He had still been limp and heavy, but at least he hadn’t been completely dead weight. Now, he wasn’t moving at all, not even dragging his feet along, and the short distance from the van into the bedroom spanned the length of a football field in my mind.

“I’m doing the best I can,” I managed as we finally made it into the bedroom. The last few feet to the bed were agonizing, but eventually, we made it, and Daemon released his side before I did. Alex dropped onto the bed, pulling me down with him. I found myself lying underneath my brother’s sweaty armpit as he snored in my ear.

Panic rushed through me. I scrambled to free myself, scratching at his arm. Daemon instantly moved to free me, pulling Alex off and flopping his arm backward at an unnatural angle. It must not have hurt because Alex kept snoring.

“Thanks.” I wiped the back of my hand over my face and took some deep breaths, trying to clear my head and get that perspiration stench out of my nostrils. “God, I hate him so much.”

“I’m sorry, baby.” Daemon wrapped me in his arms. I breathed him in, instantly feeling better. My thoughts had gone back to how horrific Alex had been to me when we lived under the same roof. When I was a small child, he would chase me around the house, threatening to punch me if he caught me, and he always kept his word. Along with Jace and Declan, Alex had made my life miserable, stealing my favorite dolls and ripping their heads off or finding my favorite items of clothing in my closet when I was older and cutting them up. Mom did what she could to control him, but it was hard when our father encouraged that sort of behavior.

Now, all of those traumatic events seemed relatively inconsequential compared to what he could do to me. Thoughts of what my father had put me through flashed before my eyes. Alex wouldn’t hesitate to do something similar.

“Are you okay?” Daemon asked me, still holding me close.

“Yes. It’s just that he’s a colossal asshole, and I hate his guts.” I glanced over my shoulder at him, noting he looked bigger than the last time I’d seen him, not that long ago. Not like he’d been working out more than usual but like he’d been eating more. He was starting to get a beer gut. How old was he again? He was already turning into Dad.

“He used to torture you when you were younger, huh?” Daemon’s tone was sympathetic, different for him.

“All the time. God, the worst was when he threw a fucking smoke bomb into my bedroom window.” I physically shuddered as I thought about it. “I’d just gotten this beautiful new bedspread. Mom bought it for my birthday. It was pink with little sparkly diamonds on it. I was sitting on my bed holding one of my favorite dolls when I heard an evil laugh, and then my room filled with orange smoke, sparks flying everywhere. He burned a hole in my bedspread, ruined my outfit, and my doll’s hair caught fire. I kept her anyway because I loved her so much, but she smelled like smoke and looked like one of my father’s victims. I could never play with her again.”

Daemon kissed the top of my head. “I’m so sorry you had to go through that, Elisa. This prick is about to wish he’d treated you with the respect you deserved. I’ll make sure of that.”

I took a deep breath and tried to face down the demons from my past, something I’d been doing a lot of lately—and successfully at that. Still, Alex lying there free made me uneasy. “Do we have anything we can tie him up with?” I asked, pulling away from Daemon to face my brother, though I left my arm hooked around Daemon’s waist.

“Uh, I’ve got some paracord. We could use that. But I’m pretty sure I can take him. In fact, at the moment, I’m pretty sureyoucan take him.” He chuckled under his breath, and I smiled at him, but I couldn’t help but shake my head.

“I just want to make sure he can’t take us by surprise.” Alex’s snoring had slowed a bit, making me nervous. “What if he ODs? Then what?”

“I can’t say I’d care if the fucker died,” Daemon admitted. “But I do need some information out of him before he bites it, so I hope he doesn’t. I don’t think he’s gonna die. I think he’ll be okay in a few hours. His head is going to be killing him, though.”

“I don’t know. It would be just my luck that the asshole would die when I finally need him for something.” I took a deep breath and let Daemon go so that he could fetch the paracord from the other room.

Folding my arms, I stood near the bed and stared down at my brother. I could see his chest rising and falling, but I couldn’t tell if it was happening less frequently than it should be. I thought about pulling out my phone and timing how often he was sucking in air. I figured it didn’t matter, though. Either he was going to pull through, or he was going to die. It wasn’t like we were taking him to the hospital.

When Daemon came back, he paused in the doorway, holding a fist full of paracord. “Is it just me or is he breathing a lot less than he was before?”